One of the driving forces in the beginning of TACTE was Jim McComas of
the University of Tennessee, who spent a great deal of time getting the
state unit organized. He involved several others,
because John Gaines of King College remembers being part of planning and
organizational meetings in 1973. An invitation
regarding beginning TACTE went out to various teacher educators April 5,
1973, and an organizational meeting April 30, 1973 at George Peabody
College "sowed the seeds" for a state-wide organization of teacher
educators. Dale Doak and Jim McComas of UT were two
participants.
In the early days, the number of attendees at TACTE
conferences was so low that the meetings were often held in a classroom
at UT Nashville or Peabody College. In fact, the
first meeting was May 16, 1974, at George Peabody College, followed by
the spring meeting at the Nashville headquarters of Tennessee Education
Association. Other meetings the remainder of the decade were at
Nashville's Rodeway Inn and Ramada Inn, South. For
the fall meeting, 1979, TACTE held its conference for the first time in
a Tennessee state park (Henry Horton State Park). By
this time, the organization was so well supported that participants over
subscribed the inn at Henry Horton Park, and the overflow ended up in
the local inns and motels around Chapel Hill. These
folks felt left out, and their stories of an exciting night "on the
town" in the Henry Horton Park area sounded very unconvincing!
Emily Mathis of Christian Brothers College shares
that her earliest memories of TACTE were of networking and socializing.
TACTE was one of the best times to communicate with the state
department of education, and a representative was always on the program
to inform about new initiatives and to help TACTE members to explore
future implications. This was especially beneficial
for the small schools. Tennessee get-togethers at
AACTE in Chicago were often planned in one of the suites occupied by one
of the universities doing interviews. Emily did the
food shopping and set-up for several years.
Emily continues that some of the early TACTE issues
were more control over teacher certification at the college/university
level rather then the state level; better and current publications from
the state department of education about regulations and requirements;
more uniformity so that all our teacher education renewal offerings
could be of comparable quality; greater control over outsiders coming
into the state to set up store-front weekend classes to compete with
established programs already in the area; NCATE requirements and
implications.
Former TACTE president Carl Stedman remembers that,
in the early 1980's, dues were about $20 per institution, and TACTE was
not really able to respond to critical state/political issues in an
organized way. 1981-82 president Roy Stinnett
appointed a "Blue Ribbon Committee," chaired by Barbara Burch of Memphis
State University, to recommend future directions for TACTE.
Among other members were George Drew (UT Martin), Carl Stedman
(Austin Peay), and Ronald Midkiff (Carson-Newman).
Two decisions were built into the report the
Committee: one, the organization, to be viable for
the future, must become involved with critical issues facing the
profession. In other words, it must become more
political. Secondly, dues must be raised to support
a more active involvement. An immediate by-product
of this report was a revised Constitution which provided a committee
structure within the organization. This revised
Constitution literally prompted a pivotal change in TACTE behavior.
George Drew is given credit for TACTE's involvement
with the Tennessee Board of Education through Nelson Andrews, Chair.
Thus began an awareness effort to give TACTE more visibility.
Ron Midkiff assured that TACTE had a balance in the committee
structure that represented the "three states" of Tennessee and the
private-public sectors so there would be a full representation when
confronting issues. Carl Stedman made a concerted
effort to involve the organization with political contacts in the House
and Senate, education representative, and newspapers and media.
All these efforts helped raise the level of awareness of TACTE
issues in Tennessee education and helped members be recognized and gain
committee memberships.
Robert Saunders, now retired and living in Alabama,
also recalls the early meetings when most institutions sent only one or
two representatives, and total attendance at the TACTE meetings would be
no more than fifteen to twenty. Bob looks back with
pride at the progress of TACTE, and attributes its success to the fact
it has represented all Tennessee teacher education institutions, from
the tiny programs to the largest ones. He has no
doubts that the cohesiveness and inclusion of the organization have
contributed to TACTE's influence with our state's
decision-makers through the years. The careful
selection of our statewide officers has been a positive factor.
TACTE has been alert to any who might
campaign for an office or who might use the organization as a stepping
stone to better his/her own career.
On the national level, Bob is proud of the fact
that our state organization has been used as a model by AACTE, which has
highlighted TACTE�s activity and pro-active stance on current issues to
inspire and encourage other state units which are not as active or
strong.
In his reflections, Bob gives UT Knoxville's
sponsorship of a "happy hour" credit for helping cement our state group
together. Regardless of one's choice of beverage,
this "late afternoon of the first day of the TACTE conference" tradition
provided great opportunities for networking for both the private and
public school representatives.
Bob remembers some other "interesting, active, and
even hostile" TACTE meetings, such as when one nationally-known educator
managed to insult just about everyone at the meeting (even those who
agreed in principle with his proposals), when certain education
commissioners viewed us with disdain (TACTE outlasted them!), when TACTE
lined up to do war with certain out of state institutions who had moved
into Tennessee, when one large-school dean made an abortive attempt to
have the large schools pull out of TACTE, and when differences between
the public and private sectors caused some breakdown in focusing on our
common purposes and interests.
A very amusing moment for Bob, and he remembers it
well, was a TACTE program where Bob followed a very animated
presentation by John Gaines. In desperation, Bob
said he had no idea about how he could get the group's attention now, so
he offered an awkward "soft shoe" dance presentation which brought the
house down!
In short, Bob reflects with pride on TACTE and its
accomplishments.
Lynn Cagle, in consultation with Dale Doak,
provides additional information about the UTK happy hour.
Lynn was the host of the TACTE happy hour for more than 20 years.
It never appeared on the printed program, but it was always a
part of the activities at each TACTE conference.
Lynn recalls that "way back" when we met at Montgomery Bell State park
in the 70's he got bored after dinner with nothing to do and people all
scattered out in those little rooms. "A friend and I
went out to some little country store and bought chips, dip, soft drink,
and beer and brought it back. We open up our room,
started knocking on doors and inviting people to join us."
Thus began a tradition of Lynn hosting the party until about 1995
when he acquired more duties on campus and couldn't participate in the
TACTE conferences as often. For more than 20 years
Lynn hauled party supplies to wherever we were meeting.
He and Tom George also hosted AACTE hospitality suites for about
ten years all over the country. For all those years
Lynn never served an official leadership role in TACTE, but every
meeting everyone would see him and ask "Where is the party tonight?
What room number?"
In summary, the Tennessee Association of Colleges
for Teacher Education has provided fellowship, networking possibilities,
relevant conferences, and leadership in Tennessee teacher education
through the years. May it continue to grow, prosper,
and continue its leadership in this state!
Compiled by Jim Stamper, Belmont University
